An Art tour, at times, is enough to help you connect deeply to all your senses. Art is metaphorical to me, and perhaps, to many others as well. The thoughts that an Artwork, be it a Painting, a Photograph, triggers inside you, provides an insight into what you are feeling at that moment.
In Art Therapy world, it is also referred to as, “A Dialogue with the Image”, a dialogue that is uncensored, without any judgement and allows creating an instant relation with our inner self.
Not just creating a free flow Artwork, but also “watching” any Artwork can lead to this dialogue.
This is exactly what I felt recently, after visiting an Art Gallery and exploring an Art Exhibition titled, “Confluence”, an Exhibition depicting works of 24 artists from India and Bangladesh.
The Exhibition was majorly focused on showcasing works depicting various techniques of Printmaking, including Lithography, Aquatint, and Etching etc… I am not much of a technique oriented person, even though it adds to the aesthetics of an Artwork (as once mentioned by one of my Filmmaker friends). I instead connect deeply with the essence and emotion behind an Artwork.
What one could derive out of any Artwork, simply intrigues me.
Here’s a Journey of how my “Dialogue with the Image” went that day. It also gives an insight into using Art as a Therapeutic tool to deeply connect with yourself and see what your subconscious is trying to convey to you. The interpretation of any Artwork is highly subjective. This write-up takes you through my Interpretation and how I took it as a Metaphor to understand what was going at my subconscious level. This will further give you a direction for understanding your interpretations and their relationship with your deeper self.
Let me walk you through some of the Artworks from the Exhibition that I got pulled towards as if they were meaning something for me. At the end of it all, it connected so well for me. Read till the end of the blog to see how the inner connection got established.
The first Painting I got pulled towards was titled, ‘Freedom of a Puppet’. The title itself sounded like an Oxymoron.
At times, don’t we all feel like puppets…puppets of the situations, puppets of Life….but is it possible to become free? Well, yes it is…..It’s difficult to pull ourselves out of victim mode many a times, but it is possible… This Painting suddenly seemed so connected….so indicative of something deep, going inside me…
A Puppet, once free, shall stop being a Puppet…once it tastes the Elixir of Freedom, he can’t go back to staying like a lifeless Being, who’s being made to dance by someone else, staying at the receiving end of somebody else’s whims and fancies…..
The thought itself seemed scary yet beautiful… Scary, because Freedom involves an element of Uncertainty, which is unlike us putting our lives in the hands of others, where we feel certain that they’ll take care of everything.
This Freedom of a Puppet felt like an achievement as I moved to the next Painting titled, “Victory of a Puppet”, in the same series by the same artist.
Moving on, I stopped in front of another Painting titled, ‘Broken Boat’.
The Painting was already sold out as was marked by the ‘red dot’. However, something inside me wanted to simply run away from that Painting. No doubt or question on the Aesthetics and Beauty of that Painting, however, the feelings it triggered inside me made me aware of some dark side I was afraid of facing, some worry deep inside me. Awareness is the first step to healing anything. Hiding from it or denying it only delays the process.
Art becomes a trigger sometimes, an Anchor for emotions that needed getting addressed, or simply accepted and acknowledged.
The Boat in the Painting looked beautiful, the Color Composition was amazing, but that “broken” corner of the boat simply felt scary. It reminded me of something that needs mending….it made me feel incomplete and i walked away from that Artwork in a hurry.
“Expressive Arts Therapy” is about expressing through Art and being aware of our emotions…At times, I’ve done Paintings using dark colors, Paintings that i never looked at again as they triggered scary and harsh emotions inside me…However, simply pouring those emotions out on a Canvas made me become aware of those feelings and eventually release those.. So, win-win in a way..
The Artist behind “The Broken Boat” would have done it with his perspective, his vision and I fully admire and respect that. What I’ve mentioned here is my subjective interpretation of an Artwork and how it could work as a metaphor for our hidden emotions and feelings. Art IS beautiful…not just aesthetically but it also helps you heal!!
The next Painting that caught my attention was of a lit Conch Shell [a Shankh with a flame]. It instantly made me calm down as it signified HOPE to me!
I moved on, and instantly got pulled towards these 2 Paintings….all so vibrant and colourful..I just felt good after looking at those.. as I love whatever is vibrant and colourful.
These looked so calming to me…and I suddenly had an urge to pen down my thoughts and I exited the Gallery.
While I was writing this piece, I saw a connection, a deep meaning, a Metaphor “for myself” in all these mentioned paintings. To me, it seemed like a 3 staged process…To gain Freedom, mend certain things and thus end up making my Life much more vibrant, happier and colourful! Wow, the thought itself feels so delightful and hopeful, just like that “Conch Shell with a Flame” painting!!
This active Dialogue that i had made with these images and thus myself, instantly confirmed to me that I was on the right Path. I took it as a reaffirmation and it simply boosted up my Confidence and I’m excited to see how my Journey is enfolding.
Let’s wonder how you have an active Dialogue with any piece of Art whenever you see one next, and what does it enfold for you and your Journey.
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To further see how you can decode your subconscious patterns using Doodling, read my earlier blog post on Unmasking Your Emotions here:
https://preetsartworks.wordpress.com/2017/04/18/learn-how-to-unmask-emotions-using-art/
Happy connecting with Art…
#Artthatconnects
Disclaimer:
The photos of the paintings listed here were taken in the Exhibition. The original paintings belong to the respected Artists. This write-up in no way is an evaluation of any piece of Art but purely my subjective interpretation and an attempt to provide an insight into how we can discover more about ourselves via Art and connect the dots for our highest good. This is not a substitute for medical advice.
Image Credits:
Image by <a href=”https://pixabay.com/users/StockSnap-894430/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=2589168″>StockSnap</a> from <a href=”https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=2589168″>Pixabay</a>
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art blog by preet 
not much to say, just beautiful work really
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Thank you so much, Rishabh. 🙂
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